TRAVEL

Florence is ideally located to travel around Italy and Europe.

Through the program, students visit Venice, Rome and many other cities that are renowned for art, history, and cuisine. Florence is centrally located with a main airport and large train station, making travel stress-free and accessible.

Whether visiting the walled city of Lucca, a typical Tuscan town, or the leaning tower of Pisa, less than an hour away by bus, or even the hilltop town of Fiesole, only fifteen minutes from Florence, there are numerous day trips you can take.

Below are a few locations that are popular among students.

Traveling by train

Bologna

Just an hour by train from Florence, Bologna is the largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region. The city founded the oldest University in the world and the city center continues to bustle with students who come from all over Italy to study. Bologna has a well-preserved historic center dotted with antique buildings, medieval towers, and Renaissance churches. It is also extremely well-known for some of the best food in Italy.

Cinque Terre

These are five towns located on the coast of Liguria. A trail connects all five towns, as does a train line, which offers spectacular views of the Mediterranean. To reach the Cinque Terre you can take the train to La Spezia and depending on the season remember to pack comfortable walking shoes, your bathing suit, and of course your camera.

Viareggio and the Versilia coast

Feel like going to the beach? Viareggio is just a short train ride from Florence and thus an easy day trip. A beautiful board walk, lot’s of beach resorts with outdoor swimming pools and in the winter a famous Mardi Gras parade.

Ravenna

Briefly the capitol city of the Western Roman Empire, Ravenna is the home of eight UNESCO world heritage sites that date from the V and VI centuries. Gold mosaics dazzle the interiors of a number of churches from the early Christian period. One of the city’s most illustrious residents was the exiled Italian poet Dante Alighieri whose tomb is located here.

Chianti

The region in central Tuscany (between Florence and Siena) renowned for the production of Chianti wine. You can plan on visiting a number of beautiful and characteristic towns (castellina in Chianti, Gaiole in Chianti, Radda in Chianti and the village of Greve) enjoying the landscape of rolling Tuscan hills and vineyards.

Milan

A three hour trip from Florence, Milan is Italy’s fashion capitol and home to the Italian stock exchange (borsa). The city offers much in the terms of Architecture (Duomo) and Art History (Pinacoteca di Brera) but it is unparalleled in terms of shopping. Take a stroll on Via Monte Napoleone or Via della Spiga for high fashion. From Milan one should plan on a trip to Lake Como or go north and decide on the French, Swiss, or Austrian Alps.

Traveling in Europe

The number of cities you can reach from Florence airport (and the nearby airport of Pisa) are plentiful. There are several low cost airlines that can take you to main European cities on a budget.

Some of our students’ favorites are:

Amsterdam, The Netherlands • Barcelona, Spain • Berlin, Germany • Copenhagen, Denmark • Dublin, Ireland • London, England • Lisbon, Portugal •

Paris, France • Prague, The Czech Republic